The Believer: Old Republic Interlude 1
by MikeRayburn2481
Summary: The moment has arrived for Outer Rim Senator Woanosa Dayrider and her anti-treaty caucus. Grand Master Satele Shan has just struck down an Imperial Spy in the old Jedi Temple, and given those loyal to the whole Republic the chance they need to reclaim their lost homes. But it won't be easy. The appeasement faction will go to any length to keep their oppressive peace.
1. Chapter 1

**The Believer**

 **Chapter 1**

 _Finally!_ Woanosa Dayseeker thought as she listened to the HNS anchor deliver the stunning news that the Jedi had captured and killed the son of Darth Angral, Sith Lord and Dark Council member, in the old Jedi Temple.

"Early reports suggest that the Sith, tentatively Id'd as Lord Tarnis, had been on planet for some time as a member of a highly secretive Republic Defense Command weapons project. We don't have confirmation but it appears Lord Tarnis was attempting to escape Coruscant with information vital to the continued security of the Republic…we will of course be here throughout the day to bring you updates as they unfold".

She clenched her fist and turned from the screen. "Cetus?"

"Yes Ma'am?" her assistant, Cetus Sunrider stepped up, always at her beckon call.

"I want you to get on the comm with Senator Kilbune from Khomm, and Erspera, and tell them to meet me at my office. Let them know I am on my way there and that it is imperative we get out in front of this before the appeasement caucus can figure out a way to turn this into the Jedi's fault", she rattled off the instructions while wrapping the black and gold shimmersil cloak around her back.

"Right away ma'am", the young man turned on his heels and was off.

 _Good boy_ she thought. Cetus was an orphan from their home planet of Hypori in the Far Rim. His parents and sister were all killed when the Empire invaded twenty-five years ago. He was smart, dutiful, and a constant reminder of what they were fighting for.

Hypori had been occupied while Woaneso was on a bolo-ball scholarship at the University of Anaxes in the Core. By the time she graduated the Senate had decreed senators of occupied planets would retain their post in exile. So when the senior senator from the sector retired, she ran…and won by a landslide of sixty thousand exiled votes. Hypori had only two million residents before the war, and only eighty thousand now lived under refugee status in the core. It was a testament to her political acumen that she had reached her current position in just under two decades.

Her personal air car landed at the members balcony of the Senate. She gave the shoulder of her Gotal driver Glott a squeeze before her Ortolan security guard opened her door with one of his four arms. The Far Rim was renowned for its diversity, and Woanosa made it a point to carry on that tradition by hiring non-humans for her most visible positions. She smiled at Ryx as she got out and he returned one that bisected his scaly face, before replacing it with his professional mask as he turned around to walk a pace behind her.

She loved this building. Constructed just two centuries ago to replace the old senate with its fixed roof and rostrums, this building had room for expansion the other did not as well as detachable hover-rostrums which lent a louder voice to the Rim delegations in the "nosebleeds." As new systems were discovered all the time, and most applied for inclusion in the Republic, the Senate was almost always growing.

But it wasn't just the building Woanosa loved, but what it represented; a galaxy of diverse life woven together through ideals rather than force. For all their high-minded talk of unity, security, and the failure of democracy, one thing above all drove the Imperials, human supremacy. More than anything, they want to take the Republic to the time before the Great Hyperspace War, when humans enjoyed a de facto primacy over the alien races of the still mostly unexplored galaxy. Woanosa knew this in her heart for her two reasons; her father had been an Imperial supporter and his collaboration ensured her family's rise under Sith control. And two, because all of the problems the Empire claimed plagued the Republic had been fixed centuries before through diplomatic cooperation. Unity? The Republic was as unified as a civilization of many disparate free people could be. Security? The Republic had a standing army and navy that turned away hundreds of thousands of unneeded applicants each year. As for democracy, that may have been true at one time. But after the ratification of the 7th and 8th Ameliorations which forbade private campaign contributions and allowed only anonymous private appointments, which ensured no citizen would be given undue influence in seeing their representative, democracy was no longer a commodity to be bought and sold.

She was coming to the end of the colonnade as Ryx broke her train of thought by jumping in front of her to call the lift.

The lift opened to a Geonosian hive of activity; pages and assistants hustled back and forth while senators huddled in conversations on either side of the wide hallway. She immediately saw Isthand Sculpatta break away from his group and her skin crawled. There had been a time when being from a different caucus meant you ate together once a week rather than the two or three times a week you ate with like-minded senators, but those days were long past. Now, there was a simmering hatred that existed between the two main factions of politicians. _War would do that_ she mused as the senior senator from the Socorro system, and one of the three leaders of the "Peace and Reconciliation" Caucus approached.

"Senator Dayrider" he spat her quintessentially Outer Rim name as he would a sour grape.

"Isthand" she replied, the indignity of using his first name evident on his well-fed face. A seasoned politician he brushed away her slight with a tight smile.

"I don't suppose you won't see this act by the Jedi as the blatant provocation it is, and work with us to ensure peace continues unabated". He uttered the line as if she could hardly disagree.

Woanosa did come to a full stop now. "You can't be serious?"

"How could I not be? Where is the balance Woanosa?! A spy, no different than the spies you know we have in their territory!" he said prempting her, "is beheaded trying to escape? How can that be the actions of-"

"-Nice Senator. You admit he's a spy so I might think you are viewing this objectively, but leave out the part where that same spy was absconding with information vital to our security." She waved him away like she would a sunfly and started to move again. But she couldn't shake this insect as he matched her pace.

"What information Woanosa?! How come we cannot get an answer as to just what was stolen?" he said smacking the back of one hand into the palm of another.

"Because it's classified information. Which is well within the purview of the RDC and the SIS. I'm sorry you trust the Empire more than your own government and the Jedi who have served for millennia without once executing a fleeing spy, but that is your problem, and one that shouldn't be imposed upon the citizens you purport to serve. Now if you please, I have work to do on behalf of all the Republic's citizens," she sped up.

"Yes, yes, may the Force be with your warmongering", he mocked her faith from behind her. She thought briefly about calling him a coward but she had no doubt that word weighed heavy on him every night he looked in the mirror.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The more news matriculated from Republic Defense Command and the Order, the better things looked for finally ending the horrible forced co-habitation imposed on them by the Empire's devious sneak attack twenty years ago. Woanosa knew why the interim Chancellor Paran Am-Ris had signed the accords. But what she didn't understand is why the successive Chancellors, beginning with Janarius, had gone to such lengths, endured such degredations, to perpetuate it. Even after the numerous exoduses of citizens fleeing the Empire arrived with horrific tales of oppression, including the Belsavis Massacre, when refugee ships carrying over ten thousand souls were destroyed within a light year of a Republic picket, the Republic seemed to do everything in its power to maintain this disastrous status-quo.

She put the final touches on her open floor speech before handing the datapad to Cetus to give it his fine tuned inspection. She steeped her hands under her chin and looked out at the passing skylanes of traffic. It was mid-morning and the lanes weren't as congested as they had been when she first sat down at sunrise to finish her speech. She loved Coruscant. It's penchant for grandeur never ceased to amaze her. She might've loved Alderaan even more, with its nearly pristine landscape and citizen's commitment to peace and the arts. Corellia, Anaxes, Esseles, she truly did love the Core. But that love never stopped her from marveling at its general aloofness, and often willful ignorance of anything taking place outside its well-manicured borders. She would often watch the traffic from here and wonder how many of these beings truly spared a thought for their fellow citizens trapped under Imperial rule. She knew she was being unfair; almost half of her political coalition was made up of Core or Colonies senators. And despite their commitment to freedom for all Republic citizens, she knew they would not be standing beside her today if it wasn't politically feasible for them to do so. Which meant at least a sizeable plurality of their own citizens also care about the plight of people like Cetus, who popped his boyish face into the room and flashed her an approving smile.

Woanosa sat on the plush couch of Hyporia's rostrum, aides on either side of her. She looked above her at the domed vaulted ceiling, with its oculus in the center letting in a shaft of daylight that settled on the Supreme Chancellor's dais. She took a moment to wonder how high that expandable dome would one day rise? How many systems would this Republic one day encompass? Really she was thinking of anyway she could take her mind off of the Jedi-hating, Imperial apologia, that was currently spewing forth out of the mouth of Fondorian junior Senator, Pyxus Medwito. She was on the extreme wing of an extremist faction, and at this moment Woanosa silently thanked the Force for her system's relatively recent admission to the Republic, which kept her high in the Senate's rafters and far away from that self-flagellating nonsense below. Thankfully, after three hours of listening to others speak, Woanosa would get her chance to rally this august body next.

"That is why we must authorize a diplomatic mission to return the body of the diplomat-"

"-spy!" one of Woanosa's allies corrected out of order.

"-the _diplomat_ , the Jedi murdered in cold blood as an initial gesture in repairing our relationship with our Imperial partners!" she bellowed gripping the front of her rostrum to cheers and jeers in almost equal measure.

The Duros Sergeant-at-arms stood and banged his ceremonial staff on the floor of the Chancellor's dais. "Thank you Senator Medwito", he said as the young female senator inclined her head, and her circular hover-rostrum returned to its bay, almost directly behind where it had been.

"The Chair recognizes the senior Senator from Hypori".

Woanosa stood as their circular pod detached and glided down to in front of the dais.

"Thank you Chancellor" she said clearly as she pulled up her speech notes on her rostrum's in-built datapad. She never liked to use her verbatim speech. She liked an outline which gave her a little freedom to improvise.

She tucked some loose strands of her raven black hair behind her ear and looked out across the senate chamber. "Senators", then to the yellow cam droid hovering in front of her she added, "citizens", she paused, looking down for a long moment. Senators began to whisper. "I apologize. It's just that the word has never held such a superficial meaning then it does now."

She held up an old style durasheet tome. "Shares defines citizen as not only a being with legal member status in the Republic, but a being who acts in a way that benefits the whole of society. One who feels compelled to act in the best interests of his or her fellow citizens."

She put the book back down, and looked back into the camera. "I would say that by this definition, none of us have the right to call ourselves that."

The spy watched the senator's speech with a consuming interest. To attack the character of the voters was bold, and usually political suicide, but judging by the ovation this was going to be anything but. This was going to create problems. That, the spy knew for sure.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Early Republic Chancellor Uueg Tching once said "politics is like playing sabaac with the mindset of dejarik." To anyone who'd served anytime in the Republic Senate, no statement ever rang more true. You had to strategize like a dejarik player fully aware that the cards in your hand were going to change abruptly. Woanosa's original plan was to defeat any attempt to send a peace delegation that would invariably sign away even more Republic lives, failing that she was sure she only had to stall that delegation until the Empire declared war. Her opposition was trying to do just the opposite, even going as far to stipulate to the Jedi's sworn statements, rather than use his allies on the Intelligence Committee to call an inquiry. While he could hope to find some holes to punch in the Jedi's story, he was also operating under the assumption that the Empire would declare war any day. The deafening silence from Dromund Kaas was the unexpected change of cards every politician had to prepare for.

She checker her visage in the wall length fresher mirror again, before running the static brush over her dark blue and red wrap dress, the family akk was shedding. A quick knock on the door startled her a bit. The door opened a moment later with her husband's handsome face following it. "Ride's here Woa," he said with his best holo-vid smile, which in this case wasn't a euphemism. Acamar Quasarblast was nineteen years her junior. That caused no problem for her, it was fairly usual for an alpha female to date or marry a younger man. The problem was actually for him. As a Coruscanti actor he was expected to tow the company line, which fit far more comfortably in in Senator Sculpatta's "Peace and Reconcilliation" caucus. But like any good native frontiersman, Acamar has never lost sight of where he came from, which happened to be a beautiful little planet in the Far Rim called Naboo.

His goofy smile right now was his way of lightening her mood on inquiry days. Woanosa loved her work. Not just the debating and drafting legislation, but the work other legislators called the grind; committee work, shaking arms, meeting people. But with the Defense and Intelligence Committee currently in the timid grasp of Sculpatta's lackeys, she was not looking forward to this all day affair.

"I heard one of the exiles gave an impassioned speech against sending a delegation here?" the disguised voice said in a tone that still sounded patronizing to the spy.

"Smokescreen, nothing more. Once the truth of the Desolator Project comes out in the inquiry, they will fall all over themselves to give away sectors. The weak-kneed still outnumber the few with true fire in their gut here," he answered in his most confident and disgusted tone.

"What about the card they haven't played yet?"

"They won't play it, they can't afford to."

"Make sure that they don't. If needs be we're always ready to take what is ours by force, but the Emperor would much rather have them simply keep giving it to us." With that the comm went dead, and the spy pocketed the encrypted cylinder and walked into the senate building to watch the show.

Woanosa sighed under her breath. She risked a glance to her left only to see the Committee Chair, Senes Solargold, an elderly senior senator from Aram in the Outer Rim, was flashing a none too inconspicuous smile from her position at the center of the U-shaped raised committee bench. _We can't all be perfect can we?_ Woanosa chuckled despite herself. The hearing had started with perfunctory interviews of the special operations personnel involved in the operation to rescue the kidnapped scientists. Nobody expected them to add much, but they were important for setting the scene. The first real test had come with the Rodian who had just left the witness table. No doubt to incur a professional ass chewing from his boss. Major Tardonomeedo of the Republic's Strategic Intelligence Service had not performed well under the bright lights. Woanosa pitied him. The Major was an analyst, a number cruncher, he had neither the experience of the politicians grilling him, or the command confidence of a fleet admiral or army general. The unprecendented crowd in the viewing gallery didn't help. Not only was the press section on the bottom floor overflowing, there were regular citizens sitting on the steps in between rows in the two public balconies above.

The bailiff, wearing his customary red and yellow uniform, stepped forward. "This committee calls Jedi Knight Kai-kwon Deo".

Woanosa cringed at the mispronouciation of a person's name she held in such high esteem. _De-o!_ she thought, _like day, with an O at the end._ Her mood immediately brightened as the blue armored Senate guards opened the double doors at the back and admitted the young human. He moved gracefully past the surging press, without so much as a glance either way. He may have been chronologically young but he had the poise of the more seasoned generals this committee had interviewed.

She also couldn't help but notice he carried a striking resemblance to her husband; tall, well-built, wavy blonde hair and hazel eyes.

"Thank you for joining us Jedi Deo" Chairwoman Solargold said with barely contained contempt.

The Jedi leaned forward into the old fashioned voice amplifier/translator, which was wholly unnecessary in this day and age but was kept on the witness table in a bureaucratic attempt at traditionalism.

"I wasn't aware I had a choice" he said earnestly, but it still elicited a wave of laughter from the galleries behind him.

"It was a formality" Senes rasped unamused.

The young Jedi took the reproach in stride with a simple nod.

"Now your colleagues in the RSO (Republic Special Operations) have led us to the point of the assault on the Black Sun compound in the Crimson Corridor. We would like you to fill in the rest," the Chairwoman said, steeping her hands under her mouth as she finished.

The young Jedi proceeded to tell the committee how they began looking for who they still believed was the missing lead scientist, Dr. Largna, while the Masters Cal Cometa and Bella Kwiiks waited for the transport to take the captured Black Sun members and rescued science team back to Defense Command. He told them coolly how they found Dr. Largna on the public square leading to the old Jedi Temple. How he told them he had his personal hover droid carry his work on the Desolator Project to the Jedi Temple.

At the mention of Desolator Senes and her allies perked up from their disinterest at the rescue of Republic scientists from an Imperial spy and honed in like akks on a nerf bone.

"-excuse me Jedi Deo", Woanosa was sure now she was mispronouncing his name on purpose, "what is this project? I was unaware you had information regarding the work this secret team was doing."

Woanosa knew very well that Solargold and her allies knew exactly what the Jedi knew, which is why they called the youngest and most inexperienced members of the team, Jedis Deo and Carson, first and second, hoping to elicit this exact slip.

For his part, the Jedi didn't seem to know he had slipped in anything. "I don't know the details ma'am, only that it was a secret defense project being developed by Dr. Largna and his team."

"But you know what it does?" Solargold ally Marek Althas chimed in.

"Vaguely sir?" Jedi Deo replied

"So then you just lied when you said you didn't know anything about it", another ally, a Duros named Tarla Tacema, added immediately in their well-rehearsed chorus.

"He didn't say that and you know it senator" Woanosa's good friend Chetall Sadira from Coular Peen, barked from her left.

The committee bench erupted into a momentary row before the Chairwoman began hitting the order chime repeatedly.

"I apologize senators. I should've chosen my words more carefully. I know that it is a gravitational weapon designed for planetary use. But to its schematics, funding, and uses, you would have to ask General Var-Suthra," Jedi Deo said somewhat meekly over the quieting senators.

"You can believe by the Force that we will young Jedi. We're through with you," Senes snapped the rudest dismissal of a witness the committee chair can offer, her breathing quickening at the political smashball that she thought just landed in her lap. Only Woanosa, the Jedi standing and bowing before the committee that had treated him like a wealthy tax cheat, and a few others, knew the truth about what Senes Solargold had jumped on.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Woanosa flashed a grimace as the Mon Calamari General Var Suthra got up from his witness chair and walked through the throng of reporters looking defiant. She risked a look at the Chairwoman who was already looking at her, flashing a self-satisfied grin. The General had done everything but fall out of his chair trying to explain the practical military uses of imprisoning an entire planet's population, and had failed miserably…which was all part of the plan. The appeasers were now leaning back in their chairs, no doubt discussing their celebratory dinner plans. So sure they were of their political victory, that they gave little thought to Woanosa's short notice witness summons. After all, she was just trying to repair the irreparable damage done by the General.

Once the gallery simmered down Chairwoman Solargold broke off her genial conversation with Marek Althas and leaned forward to look at the bench's built in datapad. A moment later Woanosa looked down at the datapad in front of her and saw the name Keona Whitmar flash green, which meant Senes had just approved it without committee vote.

The spy watched the proceedings with great amusement. _What kind of fool did it take to castigate your best general publically over a weapons project when your arch enemy had infiltrated the highest levels of your security and tried to steal it?_

He had never been so sure of his own commitment to the imperial way. His mental victory lap stopped abruptly.

"This committee calls Keona Whitmar" the gaudily uniformed bailiff called out in his deep Ortolan voice.

The raven haired spy entered through the gigantic double doors looking meek and intimidated. It was all an act he knew, and he wasn't going to wait around for the apogee…he had plans to set in motion.

"State your name and occupation for the record" the Ortolan asked as he held out an ancient ronto skin text from the dawn of the Republic.

The middle aged agent put her hand on its clearly refurbished cover, "Keona Whitmar, I work for the Strategic Intelligence Service."

An excited whisper cascaded across the press corps as the woman took her seat. Senes, who's posture tightened as she sat up at the admission.

"Thank you bailiff. Agent Whitmar, how are you today?" Woanosa began.

"Fine Senator, thank you" the spy answered, still adjusting to the seat which hadn't been changed for the unscheduled human witness.

"I assume you heard General Suthra's testimony?" she asked

"Yes ma'am, I did" the agent answered with a hint of resignation.

"Very good. I really only have one question for you agent, why do you think the Desolator Project was necessary?" out of her peripheral she could see the Duros Tarla Tacema and an ally tittering in bemusement at the unorthodox question.

"Because I have seen the Empire's ten year plan, and I know soon it will be our preparedness that decides our continued freedom or complete oppression."

The cascade of whispers during Suthra's testimony became an avalanche of noise and Senes had to get control of her own reaction before ringing the bell for order. Once the astonished gasps quieted down, the old Chairwoman couldn't stop herself; "how do you know this!?" she croaked.

"Excuse me Chairwoman, you will get you chance to rebut" Woanosa called out down the bench.

She didn't want to, but Senes respected decorum and procedure above all else. Woanosa turned back to the witness.

"Humor the Chairwoman Agent Whitmar."

Keona turned to look at the increasingly agitated senator. "I know this Chairwoman, because I have been working inside Imperial Command for the last eight years."

This time Senes yelled for quiet. She started to speak again but Woanosa just help up a hand. "And what is the Empire's ten year plan?" Woanosa asked, trying to contain her rising excitement at this well planned coup de grace.

"They were far closer to total loss then we knew before the Treaty. The Sacking of Coruscant was more out of desperation than it was planned strategy. As they have been rebuilding their forces they have had a standing policy of provocation and concession. At random intervals their agents in the Imperial Securitate will provoke low-intensity conflict on the border. Afterwards, they make noise about voiding the treaty and sit back and wait for the peace delegation to be sent from here. Once they have milked every gifted star system out of the Senate they will void the treaty on their own accord and invade."

The gallery had gotten the shocked noise out of their system and now sat, most mouths agape.

"And you brought the information regarding the Sith inflitrator, Lord Tarnis?"

"Yes Senator. I came across some data indicating a high level Sith Inquisitor who had infiltrated into the highest levels of the Defense Command. I had planned on making my exfil in a year, but thought this information was too important to wait till then"

"I understand, and thank you for your service agent"

"Your witness Chairwoman" Woanosa said, without looking down at Senes.

After a moment of silence she did turn to see the Chairwoman shushing a wildly gesticulating colleague. "Chairwoman?"

"Yes Senator, thank you" She turned to Keona.

"I'm sorry Agent…Whitmar is it? I'm just a litte befuddled at your testimony. Are you admitting here on the record that the SIS and Defense Command has been running spies in the Imperial government in clear violation of the Treaty? And you have the nerve to call for action against the Empire all the while knowing we have been the provocateurs all along" she cried, almost frothing at Woanosa.

She didn't even look at the Chairwoman as she knew the Agent had it well in hand. "I'm sorry Chairwoman…Chairwoman Solargold?"

She turned back to the witness. "I'm sorry Chairwoman but I was not admitting to your characterization of my actions"

"Then what would you call it agent?!" bellowed Senator Althas, rising out of his seat.

Agent Whitmar sat back and crossed her legs and pulled out her personal datapad. "Given your party's stated position on the…'political realities of the galaxy', I am a defector with information on my former government".

"A defector?!"

"Yes. I was a low level analyst with the bureau on my home planet of Naboo. When the Treaty was signed, I, and my colleagues, were left behind on what was now an Imperial system. I was reprinted as an Imperial citizen 18 years ago. I am here seeking political asylum" the agent flashed the barest hint of a smile and Woanosa beamed inside as the committee exploded.


	5. Chapter 5

**Epilogue**

Woanosa found it more than a little disconcerting that she felt victorious about helping to reignite a galactic war. After all, it wasn't she who would have to dodge the blaster fire to come. Underneath it all, she felt deeply ashamed of that, but she knew in her heart that this was a necessary war if there ever was one…and we all had our parts to play. It only took a full day to measure the prevailing winds of public opinion before Senator Sculpatta had withdrawn his party's call for a peace delegation.

Oh they had fought it initially. First they tried to focus on our own government's violation of the treaty through spying, whether said spy was a defector or not. Some of the more extreme members of the "peace party" had attempted to call an inquiry into the operations of the Strategic Intelligence Service, to see if they couldn't uncover some vast spy network. They seemed to have no qualms about potentially outing spies in harm's way if it meant winning this political fight. The mere suggestion set off mass protests in Republica Square, and it wasn't more than an hour later before Sculpatta and his allies turned the attention towards Agent Whitmar. Who was she really? Was it really a defection if she waited eighteen years to make it? In the end it took the threat of recall from some of their own constituents to drop the matter and recall their own legislation, which they did the second morning after Keona's testimony. By midday Galactic Standard, the Empire's Supreme Council declared the Treaty of Coruscant null and void. The Republic's declaration followed at the end of the working day. After twenty years of an insufferable détente they would finally settle whether all the citizens of the galaxy would be able to determine their own fate, or be forced to submit to it.

Woanosa shut off her holoscreen and put her closed datapad in her clutch, before clapping off the light and heading for the door.

Cetus nearly ran into her coming out of his adjoining office. "Oh, Senator…you scared me."

"I could tell," she smiled warmly.

"yes, well…" he looked back down at his datapad, "Senators Sen and Alanort want to schedule a meeting with yourself and General Sut-" she clasped a hand to the back of his shoulder.

"Cetus, go home, take Hadar out to dinner and a show. Whatever it is can wait till tomorrow…I promise."

Her young assistance hesitated a moment, his own perfectionism and inability to leave a task unfinished waging a silent battle with his desire to see his husband, but finally the latter won out as he flashed a relenting grin. "Very well, you're right, of course."

"We've worked really hard the last couple of days and the work is only going to get more difficult in the months and years ahead. So get as many lasting memories as you can right now. I am going to do the same," she said removing her hand and grabbing her shawl from the rack near the door before giving it to Cetus to wrap across her back shoulders.

As the office door opened she was almost as startled as Cetus who she felt jump a little behind her.

"Master Shan?" she tried to hide the reverence in her voice.

"Senator Dayrider..and…"

It took her moment but she moved and called Cetus forward, "Cetus Hieroro, my assistant."

The Jedi Grand Master bowed at them both. "Were you leaving?"

"uh, yes, we were actually…but we can stay, what can I uh, trouble you for?" she finally managed, cursing herself inwardly for her buffoonery.

"Actually, I'll walk to your aircar." With that the three walked in near silence until they reached the hallway where two blue armored Senate Guards fell into step behind them.

"It's like a Geonosian hive in here" Satele marveled.

"It's been busier than usual…but not by much," the Senator added, now in full control of her faculties.

They began walking through the forest of Tepasi marble columns to the top story Senator's landing balcony.

"You all do such important work here," the Jedi said, quietly, earnestly.

"Oh, well, not-" she cut herself off before sounding sycophantic, "-thank you Grand Master."

"I wanted to thank you personally for the work you did on our behalf. I fear we may have been run off Coruscant had it not been for the servants like yourself."

They walked out of the overhang and into the dying light of another day.

"I refuse to believe so poorly of my colleagues. I still like to think they would do what's right if it ever came down to it."

The Jedi smiled out of the corner of her mouth at her.

"…I don't know, maybe I'm naïve," she said with a rueful shake of her head.

"No. No, that outlook gives you strength. It's the righ…"

Woanosa leaned in as the Jedi's words trailed off. She slid her hand off Woanosa's arm and began walking away from her and Cestus, and towards the edge of the platform.

She was starting to get worried when she heard the Master Jedi repeat, "no…no," as she looked out at the passing skylane of traffic. Woanosa followed her gaze out to the passing speeders but saw nothing amiss. It wasn't until she looked past the lane of traffic that she saw the figure on the platform across the way, shouldering something that looked like a… _oh no…_

The Jedi leapt an impossible height to land on a passing air bus. Woanosa saw her jump one more time before a small circular object launched from the shouldered weapon. It was headed for the open cab of stretch air car that looked a lot like her friend Chetall Sadira's. She saw the Jedi wave a hand from the back of a terrified gotal's red speeder, and the small orb was flung impossibly high into the sky above before detonating in spectacular fashion high above the highest traffic lane.

Woanosa smiled despite her worry, before she heard Cetus's shrill voice; "senator! Look out!"

She felt his hands on her shoulders but never saw the danger until her twenty four year old assistant dove on it a yard in front of her. She turned and dove for the ground just before the muffled explosion erupted behind her…an explosion, that she realized belatedly was muffled by someone she had always viewed as a son, and a precious one at that.

It took a full day before they were able to gauge the full extent of the attacks. There were the odd stories of survival; Woanosa's own, Senator Sadira, General Suthra, but too many had died. The fifth column of Imperial assassins had infiltrated so deeply they were able to penetrate areas that would've been impossible to any assassin who hadn't spent years working towards a single target. An aide of three years put a blaster bolt through the head of her employer, Woanosa's ally, Owaves Twighlightburn. A regular deliveryman rolled a thermal detonator into the apartment of another anti-treaty stalwart in Senator Anyina Botein. In all, twenty three high ranking senators, generals, and intelligence officials lost their lives on the day. While all were damaging to the war effort and the daily functioning of government, none hurt worse than the closed casket she was currently laying a partially burned hand on. Promising by the Force that he and all those killed by or slaving under an Imperial hand would be avenged.


End file.
